Tales from the 51st
by Grinedel
Summary: Dana Fitzman, a former god-like being, wants to go home. She has been betrayed by Yeshua, the man she loves. Now she's stuck as a human. But how can you get revenge on someone you love?


Tales from the 51st

Chapter 1 - Guests

It was already dark when Darris Carpenter got out of the building. As he strapped his helmet on, he didn't notice the shape hiding across the street, watching him intently.

Aavelrar had been waiting for a long time and he was now cold and quite annoyed. Darris was late again, he always was and the Tulian couldn't understand how the fashionable Briora could still put up with him.

As Darris rode away on the magnetic bike, Aavlerar sighed and made his way toward the building the man had just left. The door was safely locked but that wouldn't stop the alien. Before he could slip out of solidity, though, he heard a click and a chuckle. The door opened to reveal a black haired woman with a sculptural beauty wearing a black uniform and guns on her sides.

'You could have knocked you know.' She said with a sneer.

'Someone really ought to tell you how unfunny you are…' Replied Aavelrar, eyes blackening.

'Oh shut it you sod and help me get this code'. Her eyes darted right and left to check for witnesses and carefully closed the door she had tricked into opening.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Darris made his way through the narrow corridor in the Martian embassy, pausing to check himself in the screen mirror. He ruffled his sandy blond hair with a big sigh as he noticed the bags under the violet eyes. He could already hear the chatter in the main room. Really, thousands of years of evolution and human relationships were still based on stupid useless chatter. With all the courage he could muster, Darris slipped through the doors, silently begging to go unnoticed, but knowing perfectly well it was utterly pointless. People he didn't remember started coming his way to greet him and shake his hand. Across the room, hopelessly far, he could spot the naked back of the Martian's ambassador, his girlfriend Briora Millden. She was of course engaged in tedious small talk. Lucky for her, that was her specialty and her favorite thing in the whole world.

A cold hand appeared on Darris' shoulder and he started, spinning around to see who the shoulder-intruder was. He met a pair of pale eyes, barely visible through strands of white hair.

'I must talk to you now' whispered the young dark gray skinned man. Darris nodded briefly and followed his companion in a small empty room. Once the door was closed, Darris glared and snapped

'What the hell do you want Marc'h?'

The man shook his white hair and pointed to Darris' wrist. He glared some more to prove his point then Darris conceded and switched off the time bracelet he was wearing.

Once he was sure he couldn't be heard by any third party, Samael Marc'h crossed his arms in a defiant gesture.

'What kind of effing ambassador do you except me to be if you don't let me contact my effing home world?' he snarled 'I need the code and you owe it to me Jessie.'

Darris stayed silent for a few seconds before smirking knowingly.

'You knew what the job entailed when you signed up for it, Lucie. There is absolutely no way you can bail out of it now.'

'What if someone came back from Val with real news? If I'm exposed you'll lose everything too.'

'Oh, Luce… don't worry 'bout that, there is no way anyone in hell anyone could bring back news. No. Way.' With a last wink to his twin brother, Darris unlocked the door and strode imperiously through the crowd, stopping next to Briora Millden. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and plastered a wide fake smile on his face. The Martian woman wasn't impressed, though.

'Late again, sweetheart?'She muttered with the slightest cold edge to her voice, smile never wagering.

'I'm allowed, I own the world don't I?' he replied in the same way.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Dana Fitzman tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear and carried on typing frenetically on the computer board. In the next room, Aavelrar was fiddling with an open computer, removing some printed circuit boards and adding new ones.

'Fuck. I don't think the code is on the main stream.' Dana swore. She turned her piercing green eyes toward his companion. 'Any luck, Aav'?'

'Nope. Not surprising though. Darris is smart. Besides, he couldn't let any agent finding out his dirty little secrets.'

Dana nodded even though she knew Aavelrar couldn't see her.

'Come on Aav', let's go.' She sounded defeated.

The Tulian glanced at her and felt he should say something comforting but before he could figure something meaningful, they heard a sound.

They started and Dana let out another loud 'fuck'.

Aavelrar turned the light off with a click of his fingers, but someone was definitely coming their way.

'If they find me here, I'll be in troubles bigger than Millden's butt.' She sneered. Aavelrar let out a girly giggle. The guard was coming faster and there was no other way out. Sometimes, Dana really resented the fact that she was too lazy to plan meticulously her spying missions.

'I know you're there. Come out and I might not shoot you on the spot!' Called the guard, a moon man, judging by the way he moved.

'Get in my body!' whispered Dana urgently to her sidekick.

'What!' was the strangled noise the Tulian made.

'Get. In. Now!' the young woman growled.

Aavelrar looked sheepish to give the impression that even though she asked for it, he was really truly sorry to do that to her and left the man's body he'd been using lately. For some reason, he'd always been uncomfortable sharing the bodies of the people he cared for. His true liquid form flowed on the floor and up Dana's legs and torso, entering in her mouth, not daring to use the soft spots like the eyes or the nose. He didn't impose his consciousness on her mind, like he did the others but rested in the back of her brain. Once she had recovered from the intrusion, Dana melted into the shadows near the door in a cloud of black smoke, just in time before the guard slammed it open.

The man Aavlerar had been using was recovering his senses when a fist punched him hard into the face and knocked him out.

While the guard was giving the poor innocent guy a hard time, Dana and her host slipped silently out the TTSC building, the sign announcing 'Time Travel Security Company – an extended universe' strangely reassuring in the December mist.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Darris was so grateful when his bracelet beeped. He excused himself from the formal gathering, earning himself a disapproving look from the hostess. He shrugged helplessly and rode back to the TTSC building. A guard looking both afraid and downright furious led him to a small room where a man covered in bruises was tied to a chair.

Darris turned brusquely towards the guard.

'How the hell am I supposed to interrogate the trespassers if you break their jaws?'

The guard took a step back but Darris' attention was already focused on the prisoner. The man was grunting softly. Darris made him drink a few drops of Erdetre and the major injuries began to fade away.

'Do you know who I am?' asked gravely the blond man.

'N…no…' the intruder managed to croak out.

'I am Darris Carpenter, the time travel security company's chairman. You were found in my office. What are you doing here?' His tone was almost gentle. Darris was a very smart man and he already had suspicions on the true nature of his visitor.

'I… don't know… I… just woke…up'

Darris nodded and turned around. Just before reaching the door, he glanced behind and fired a gun. The unknown man slumped on the chair he was tied on. Darris looked at the guard who was slightly uncomfortable under that gaze that looked both so cold and so innocent on his deceptively youthful face.

'I think I might know who played with the network tonight. Watch out for Tulians.'

'Tulians?' The guard looked absolutely horrified. Those parasitic sentient creatures were despised and feared throughout the whole universe. Their liquid form was barely noticeable and once it latched on to you, there was no way to get it off without suffering a horrible death.

'Yes, Tulians. So, you'd better stop gaping or you'll make it easier for them.' Snapped Darris who left in a hurry, if the Tulian was still here, better not linger long. Especially if it was _him_.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Briora glared at the door her lover just left through. From the corner of her eyes she noticed the silhouette of the Valian ambassador looking distraught, fingers tightly wrapped around a glass of random alcoholic beverage. She flirtingly flicked her red hair at some politician and took her leave. She leaned back against the wall just beside the Valian.

'Having second thoughts Samael?' she asked, voice dripping with irony.

'Not you too', Replied Samael with a pout.

'Don't tell me you miss the goddam place. I went once to Val and that was more than enough. I think I'll be scarred for life.' She shuddered. The experience really traumatized her. Even being near a Valian was nauseating. Val had seemed like a nightmare you had to live awake. How Valians could actually like the place was beyond her.

'I don't need your scorn right now Bri' He scowled. He then turned on his heels, bowed to the lady and declared loudly:

'I really need to be off Miss Millden, please excuse my short stay'. He then left a mildly angry woman stirring her glass. She was holding it so tight in her tight hands it nearly reached breaking point. She barely had time to compose her face before the president of Magnetech engaged her in another round of chitchat.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Dana trailed the man through the brightly lit alleys with practiced ease, thanking the gods for her years of training as a time agent. Just before the stranger entered his home, she tackled him, giving Aavelrar enough time to slip through the man's skin and take over his brain. That done, he stood up and ran a hand over his face. Dana dragged him inside the house, raising her wrist to quickly scan it for any organic presence but aside from the occasional flowers and fish bowl she found nothing.

Aavelrar had settled in a highchair and was currently browsing through the man's wallet.

'Ok, my name's Baz Naedi and I'm a stylist from the moon. I'm single too.' He announced loudly.

'Oh lucky you' sneered Dana. She had already claimed the terminal, attempting to hack through the intergalaxian network. Once she was done checking if the security override on her time bracelet was still holding, she allowed herself to relax. She crept over to the couch and laid down, her head in Aavelrar's lap.

'There is still hope for Val…' the Tulian said in a reassuring voice, hand resting on the woman's green eyes, a Valian comforting gesture. 'Someday we'll go home'.

'I've yet to meet any other Valian southerner in any planet I visited' She sighed 'Only northerners, and they'll not help, those backstabbing cockroaches, like that idiot Samael…'

'Marc'h is as clueless as us. I'm surprised nobody ever doubted his words' Aavelrar snorted.

'What!' Dana chocked out suddenly sitting up. She grabbed the man's arm and twisted it violently. He stared dispassionately at it. 'What did you just say?'

'I'm saying Samael Marc'h hasn't been in touch with Val for a long time. Didn't you notice?'

Dana let his arm go and slid back on his lap.

'I'm not as fluent as you on human mind reading.'

'Possession helps' Aavelrar smiled before becoming serious again 'he's your son though. And your husband. And…'

'Yeah yeah. You don't need to remind me my children hate me. Yasha, Sam. Even the little Tia. I'm a crap mother. Sue me.'

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Samael raised the temperature of the heating field around him and stepped out in the cold. He barely spared a glance for his magnetic transport and began walking down the large avenue. He took a breath of fresh still air and found himself missing the Valian winds. He knew for a fact there used to be winds on Earth but even back in those times they didn't feel the same.

His role as ambassador was beginning to weight a lot on his shoulders. In desperate need of some relief, he transported himself in a welcoming pub of the early 20th century and tried to find a solution in a pint of good old lager. Before he could think of something smart, someone tapped his shoulder and he met a pair of bored eyes. The vacant expression and the silky foreign material of the man's shirt informed Samael that he was facing a TTSC Agent on a routine mission.

'I just want a pint mate' He sighed, holding up his arm so that the agent could control his identity. The man nodded and turned to leave with the customary:

'Mind the space time continuum.'

Samael snorted and resumed his primitive custom of getting nicely drunk. He almost missed the times when Agent Fitzman scolded him on his little trips. Almost.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Briora pressed her wrist bracelet and safely landed on the white plaza in the center of Mars' capital, Parschell. She raised the hood of her cloak and pressed a button on her wrist, trying to look as inconspicuous as she could and failing miserably. Fortunately for her, there weren't many honest looking people left in the city.

She turned left and walked down to the river. Nobody ever crossed it, there were dangerous creatures in it. Children corpses where often found nearby, having foolishly ignored their parents warning. Briora looked up at the 'sky' up above and sighed as the light for the city flickered, reflected in the red stone arches. Mars was too cold outside but below ground were large meadows and pleasant villages. And some other places. The caves across the water for instances. Nobody ever went to the caves of course. It wasn't just the sense of dread that crawled across your skin whenever you looked their way, it wasn't the creepy noises you could hear coming from there some days of the year, it wasn't even the smell of death you could catch on very hot days. If the Martians didn't dare approaching the caves, it was because they couldn't. It was in fact physically impossible for them to walk in that direction.

But Briora stepped into the water. She heard a splash not far from her and for a moment she thought her heart was going to explode with fear. She felt the thing circling her legs, it's cold skin brushing hers. She didn't move a toe. She didn't know how she knew this, but she was quite sure the creature was smelling her. The images of the children's corpses flashed in her mind but she kept as still as she could. Finally, the creature left and the stream seemed to shake as it sneezed. Briora didn't linger longer in the water and moved quickly to the shore on the other side. She knew quite well why the beast didn't harm her. She smelled like Darris. Reeked of him more like. And the beasts knew him. They belonged to his mother.

Activating her bracelet to dry herself off, Briora looked in the direction of the caves and as she clutched the pendant around her neck, she began her journey to the other side.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Darris had return to the beginning of the calendar. He looked at the white house and the mud road, looking almost regretful. Long ago, he knew only this time and only this place. He shook his head as if to clear off his mind and entered his old house, deserted at this time of the day. Why he kept coming here, Darris had no idea. It was dirty, and it held many not too pleasant memories. What a fool he used to be. When time was still whole and space was a mere illusion from God. But this was the time where it began. Ever since those days he had been a god. In those days he even had a name. Sometimes, Darris thought that if he had a real usable name, maybe he wouldn't feel so bad because that would be something that truly belonged to him. But he hadn't. Instead, he had all the other names. And the code. The code for the only home he truly had wanted.

Speaking of which. Darris felt very insecure. Though Dana and Aavelrar didn't seem to get nearer to their goal in their search, it bothered him to feel them so close and not be able to do a single thing about it. Especially her. If he couldn't go back, then neither should she.

When Dana worked for him, with him, it had felt like he was in his family once more. Dana was much older than him but passed a certain point it didn't show. Like him she came from the other side. Like him she was born to death. Or perhaps not even born at all.

She had been a wonderful time agent. After all, she already knew every twist and turn of the time line. Like him she had lived through it from the beginning to the end. From one point to another. She was the only one who could set up paradoxes. And then he had lost. Or maybe she lost him. He really didn't want to judge her, he was too afraid he might realize he was the bad guy. Perhaps he betrayed her first. Perhaps she wasn't using him as he thought.

Once again, sanity went down to a paradox.

'Yeshua?' a voice called from behind him. Shit. That was the voice of his mother. The one and only woman he really wanted to kill, but somehow couldn't. His paradox.

'I'm not staying.' He answered quietly in ancient Greek. He could fell her gaze on the back of his neck and could have sworn she was nodding.

'I know.' Her voice was soft but he could hear the underlying anger. And the madness. Her constant praises could not make up for the disgust he could feel radiating from her. Disgust at him. Disgust at her. She knew the one she had raised to be a god was really a monster from the other side. And she hated him so very much. She hated him for her weakness. And though he now knew those emotions he felt from her were faked, they still hurt like they were true.

He turned to leave but she caught his arm. So hard it would surely leave a bruise for a week. Darris never cured the injuries his mother sometimes gave him. It was somewhat reassuring. He looked down in her deep brown eyes but she didn't say anything more so he pressed his wrist and vanished.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Dana turned her back on the scene and hid behind the olive tree. Stupid Yasha. One day he'll get really hurt.

The truth was, she was afraid he wouldn't have the strength to come back one day. One day, she wouldn't be able to push him away, to fake the disgust and the hate. And if he were to stay in his time, who knows what would happen. If she had the code by then, maybe it wouldn't matter as much, but to her whatever happened, not having Darris, her precious Yasha, around, was like having to spend the rest of her eternity in the darkness.

She gave one last long look at the woman who was a blunt mirror of herself, that image it pained her to keep and hoped she would have the strength to let go.

Once she was sure he had left for good, she teleported back to Aavelrar before he woke up and realized she was gone.

Aavelrar was only pretending to sleep but he held his tongue. He knew that despite Darris' betrayal, Dana still cared deeply for him. Darris was hers through and through.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Briora entered the cave, her heart beating so fast in her chest it hurt. The deal was already made but she knew she couldn't really trust them. Can the lamb truly trust the lion? She came up to the back wall and with a deep breath stepped right through it. The space winds washed over her and she landed in a small room with grey walls. It was dimly lit and the ceiling was low. She didn't hesitate and pushed a door. She followed a long corridor. At its end, a woman was waiting. At least, Briora assumed she was female, she could never be sure with Anunnakis, she didn't know them enough.

She was very willing to admit they were quite scaly and slimy but she didn't have power by herself. She had to make some sort of alliance if she wanted to get what she thought she deserved. And if it had to be with the most feared banished Anunnakis, so be it. Her thirst for power and recognition could easily push her beyond the limits of sense and caution. She was very much aware of the 'trouble' they were bound to cause once unleashed on her world but she was too far gone in her madness to really care for the after part.

The woman introduced herself as Tia and offered to take her to the king.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Darris ran up the hill as fast as he could. The old olive tree overlooking the village was the only place he could find true solace. However someone was waiting for him at his favorite spot.

'Faust…' sighed Darris 'what the hell are you doing, here and now? Surely you are aware we're not supposed to meet till two years from now…'

'Sure sure' answered the man shaking his dirty blond hair out of his face with a grin, 'El told on you. She said she was worried.'

'Well she would, we all know Dana is a nagging little bitch with control issues'

Johann, more commonly known as Faust, made a face at the angry comeback. He knew his friend was really hurt but wished he could find a way to live with the side of him that still belonged to Dana.

'Jay, you can't really mean that, if someone can surrender control, it certainly is El.'

Darris chose to ignore the comment, not willing to start another argument regarding the person who made his life, if he had any, a living hell. Her old face, the one he'd first known, still lingered when he closed his eyelids.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Briora saluted the king, Marduk. She was very wary. He was a friend of her worst enemy, the owner of her lover's heart and soul, Dana Fitzman. They quarreled like children she knew, and though those petty fights could easily turn into full blown wars they still shared a mutual tenderness in their friendship. Turning to him was a gamble. He would want to prank Dana but he would never hurt her too bad. She would have to play it extremely smoothly.

The woman, Tia, was her best asset in this negociation. Briora had recently discovered a shocking truth. Tiamat was Marduk and Dana's daughter, and unlike her father, she truly hated her mother. Tia had made quite clear she wanted nothing more than to destroy everything her mother held dear in this world or any other.


End file.
